Trader Talk

In the wake of a national racial reckoning this past summer and Black Lives Matter protests across the country, the share of CFPs who are Black or Latino remains below 4%. A panel of five CFPs and industry executives at this week’s Center for Financial Planning’s Virtual Diversity Summit expressed hope about upping that percentage

Earlier this year, Merrill Lynch took the unusual step for a wealth management firm to release data on diversity in its advisor ranks. Now the head of the wirehouse is urging his peers across wealth management to take a cue from the thundering herd and be more forthcoming about diversity in their advisor ranks. “For

As many taxpayers are aware, U.S. income taxes are a pay-as-you-go system. Accordingly, taxpayers are generally required to pay their income tax liability throughout the year as they earn their income, with any amounts owed upon the filing of an income tax return serving merely as a truing up between what the taxpayer thought they’d

Dimensional Fund Advisors’ ETFs begin trading today, a first step as the quant giant prepares to convert around $20 billion of mutual funds into the new wrapper. The $527 billion manager based in Austin, Texas, released two actively-managed products, one focused on U.S. equities and the other on international stocks. Another fund tracking emerging market

“Before anything else: preparation.” Alexander Graham Bell’s motto underlies a common business theme: Disasters are fundamentally a continuity challenge that must be met by innovative thinking and smart technology — and this pandemic has certainly upended the way wealth managers serve their clients and how those clients work and live. Are you prepared? With many

The Federal Reserve’s efforts this year to boost the economy are costing some wealth managers hundreds of millions of dollars. The reason stems from the Fed’s decision to bottom out interest rates earlier this year. That move helped keep markets intact and the economy afloat amid a global pandemic, but it also dealt a blow

With a president-elect Joe Biden heading to the White House, estate and gift tax exemptions could be on the chopping block next year. Even if nothing happens, these exemptions are slated to be halved after 2025. The upshot: Wealthy clients wishing to make big gifts can save taxes by using the generous exemptions now. The

Fidelity has launched a new wealth management platform in a bid to to help independent financial advisors keep pace with technology innovation happening at the wirehouses. Like Merrill Lynch did with its Personal Wealth Analysis, the new Fidelity Managed Account Xchange, or FMAX, brings together financial planning and investment management tools into a single digital

First Republic poached a top-ranked Merrill Lynch team, adding to the burgeoning advisor ranks at the boutique wealth manager. Advisors John C. McNamee and Daniel J. White joined First Republic in Century City, California, according to the bank. The team previously oversaw more than $4.5 billion at their former employer, according to Barron’s. McNamme was

Q: I’ve been having a “debate” with my compliance department. They tell me I need to get all the information requested on the new account forms from clients. I don’t see why I need to get a client’s household income, liquid net worth and total net worth. It just seems like overkill and some clients

The Wall Street Bull (The Charging Bull) is seen during Covid-19 pandemic in New York, on May 26, 2020. Tayfun Coskun | Anadolu Agency via Getty Images Money is pouring into stocks through exchange-traded funds.  You can thank the potential vaccines. Money is pouring in because U.S. investors who have been reluctant to put money

For certain advisors at five prominent wealth managers, exclusively short term products were allegedly part of the long term investment plan. At least that’s what the SEC says. The regulator brought cases alleging unsuitable sales of volatility-linked products against five firms: one of the biggest enterprises with Cetera Financial Group, Advisor Group’s two largest independent

Two ex-Morgan Stanley financial advisors whose team managed $2 billion in client assets joined an LPL-affiliated firm, making it the second largest recruiting move this year in the independent broker-dealer sector. Advisors John Gallagher and Mark Levin of Marlton, New Jersey-based Maverick Partners Wealth Management affiliated with LPL Financial as their IBD and Gladstone Financial

After suffering recruiting losses in the wake of its $1.3-billion acquisition of Ladenburg Thalmann, Advisor Group has added its largest incoming enterprise of the year. Pacific Capital Resource Group brought 40 advisors with $975 million in client assets to Advisor Group’s largest independent broker-dealer, Royal Alliance Associates, the firms announced Nov. 3. In doing so,

Tax policy for the next two years, and therefore tax planning strategies, may be determined in Georgia early next year. On Jan. 5, 2021, the state will hold runoff elections for two Senate seats, which may determine whether Republicans retain control of the Senate or whether Democrats will have a trifecta — control of the

Joe Biden’s presidential transition has barely started but already banks and investment firms are anxious about two names they fear are in the running to lead the SEC. The uneasiness started late last week, when news broke that Gary Gensler — a scourge of Wall Street when he led the Commodity Futures Trading Commission —

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday accused two former top Wells Fargo executives of misleading investors about a sales metric that was exposed as unreliable after bank employees were found to have opened fake accounts for customers in order to meet sales goals. Former CEO John Stumpf agreed to pay a $2.5 million penalty

Working as a financial planner all of my adult life — the first 20 years as a corporate financial planner and the second half working with individuals — I’ve seen some big changes in the industry, some foreseeable and others, many in fact, that have been so counterintuitive or just plain out of left field

The independent advisor world just added its latest billion-dollar recruits. A UBS team managing $1.8 billion in client assets left the wirehouse for Venture Visionary Partners, an independent advisory firm launched in 2019 by former UBS star advisor Craig Findley in partnership with Schwab and Dynasty Financial Partners. The Toledo, Ohio-based RIA now oversees a

The “vast majority” of large RIAs that operate out of multiple offices struggle to adequately supervise remote personnel and ensure compliance across their branches, the SEC is warning, noting the prevalence of inaccurate, loosely enforced and inconsistently applied policies and procedures. The commission’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations this week released arisk alertoutlining the

In my 23 years as on-air stocks correspondent for CNBC, I’ve been asked many questions by strangers, but most of them boil down to some variant of “What do you think is going to happen to the markets?”   Remarkably, almost no one (OK, maybe one in a hundred) ever ask what I would consider

As it embarks on integrating TD Ameritrade, Charles Schwab is cutting branches, reducing staff and letting go of the TD brand. But other elements are here to stay. For instance: TD offices that service financial advisors, according to Bernie Clark, head of Schwab Advisor Services. Clark spoke to RIAs last month on a recorded webcast

All but one of the decade’s worst-performing large-cap funds posted losses this year. That, however, isn’t the only thing they have in common. As growth funds dominate the top-performing large-cap funds over 10 years, it should be no surprise that value stocks have been the driving force behind the worst-performers. With an average 10-year gain

Envestnet went outside of the company, and the entire wealth management industry, to find a successor for its retiring chief technology officer. The company’s new CTO is Robert Coppola, who most recently served as chief information officer of public relations software firm Cision. He replaces current Envestnet CTO Scott Grinis, who will retire in 2021

An exterior view of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) headquarters in Washington. Jonathan Ernst | Reuters What would a Democrat-controlled Securities and Exchange Commission look like? It’s early, but speculation is already raging on Wall Street.  Who will be SEC commissioner? Gary Gensler, who aggressively implemented the Dodd-Frank Act when he was the

WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden will inherit a very uncertain economy on Jan. 20. It remains to be seen whether Congress can agree on a stimulus package during the lame duck period, and how an almost certain second wave of COVID-19 cases will affect jobs, business closures, consumer spending and financial stability. Biden’s Treasury secretary,

A financial advisor meeting with any client for the first time will prioritize establishing a relationship and identifying common ground in order to get a fix on their short- and long-term goals. The same applies to ex-military clients. Veterans answered to a higher purpose during their service, but you’ll find that in retirement, they’re working

The wealthtech market is heating back up after COVID-19 put deal making on ice. RightSize Solutions, a firm providing IT and cybersecurity services to RIA firms, has been acquired by Swizznet, a cloud-based software company. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Owned by private equity firm Bluff Point Associates, Swizznet’s expansion into wealth management

Is it time for a reconsideration of this monster rally?  With the S&P 500 up 9% in six trading sessions to an all-time intraday high (though not a closing high), many are looking at parts of the market as overbought. Others agree, but say it doesn’t matter in this strange mix of election and vaccine

The SEC’s mission is threefold: protect investors; maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets; and facilitate capital formation. Over the past four years, the regulator has prioritized one aspect — facilitate capital formation — to the detriment of protecting investors. Indeed, investor protection has been slowly eroded under the guise of investor choice. But the only